Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions his Department has had with experts on (a) transitional science and (b) change management on the roadmap to phase out animal testing.

The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. This transition must be science-led and the Government has been consulting industry, academia and civil society as this process unfolds.

Although we have not yet engaged specifically on translational science and change management, we will consider this as we move into implementation of the Strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, which we will publish later this year. We will shortly host a workshop with translational experts ahead of publication of the strategy.